Former England captain Alastair Cook, Haseeb Hameed and Keaton Jennings have been made available for their counties in all domestic fixtures until the end of June.

None of the trio have been selected for England's Champions Trophy campaign but are widely expected to occupy the top three batting berths for the first Test of the summer against South Africa at Lord's, beginning on July 6.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has therefore decided to free them up for every match in the Specsavers County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup up until the week before the first Proteas clash.

Former England captain Alastair Cookhas been made available for Essex throughout June

Haseeb Hameed has not been selected for the Champions Trophy and will play for Lancashire

Seam bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad can participate in most fixtures, including the historic round of day-night championship games from June 26-29 in which it is anticipated all England players will be available.

That is set to be the only four-day involvement for new Test captain Joe Root before the South Africa series, with the ECB hoping to get their players adjusted to the pink ball under lights prior to England's inaugural day-night Test against West Indies in August.

Share this article

Share

Root is slated to play against Durham in the one-day cup on Wednesday, alongside Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid, before linking up with England for their one-day international series against Ireland later this week.

Following the ODI matches on Friday and Sunday, the majority of England players will rejoin their counties for another week before reconvening ahead of the Champions Trophy, which runs from June 1-18.

Captain Joe Root will almost exclusively play one day cricket ahead of the South Africa Tests

Director of England Cricket Andrew Strauss said: 'This was always going to be a difficult summer in terms of managing the workload on our England players, with such a hectic schedule including the Champions Trophy as well as seven Tests, followed by an equally busy winter in Australia and New Zealand.

'We appreciate all of this causes disruption for counties and frustration for their supporters and we are grateful to them for seeing the big picture in appreciating the need for us to ensure that key players remain in the best possible condition for the challenges ahead.

'All these decisions are taken after consultation with the players, and I know they will be pleased to have the opportunity to play in some important Royal London One-Day Cup matches next week, and then in the Specsavers County Championship later in May and June.'